Saturday, August 01, 2009

The following story took my breath away. I have never heard of such negligence/cowardice on behalf of supposedly trained first responders. God forbid if this is what the Obongo-ites have in store for us once the government takes over our health care. This is a classic example of how liberals save money by allowing people to die. From the UK Daily Mail:

Police, firemen and paramedics refused to go to the aid of an accident victim who was drowning in just 18 inches of water... because they believed it was too dangerous.

A senior fire officer banned his men from using ropes and ladders to climb down a 15ft bank to the victim after carrying out a ‘risk assessment’.

Acting on advice, ten police officers who attended the emergency also failed to rescue father-of-three Karl Malton, 32, as he lay face down in the shallow ditch.

This unconscious victim of an auto accident died while over a dozen emergency personnel stood around and did absolutely nothing.

His body lay there for three hours after a decision was made to send for a ‘water rescue team’ based more than 50 miles away.

When relatives arrived at the scene, they found emergency workers standing around drinking tea.

Oops, didn't catch this first time around. They were doing something. My bad.

An inquest into Mr Malton’s death yesterday heard that officers no longer have to swim or receive life-saving training.

Last night Mr Malton’s father Peter branded the emergency services’ response to the tragic accident as ‘unacceptable’.

Officers don't have to swim?? The poor SOB was in 18 inches of water!! They only had to wade through knee deep water and turn him over! Check for a pulse! Do something!

I don't call this unacceptable, this is criminal negligent homicide, which is- "The failure to use reasonable care to avoid consequences that threaten or harm the safety of the public and that are the foreseeable outcome of acting in a particular manner." These assholes stood by and did nothing to provide assistance. I would hazard an opinion that the death of Mr. Malton was the forseeable outcome of ... drinking tea. Might as well throw grand larceny and official misconduct into the charges; they were getting paid to save lives and stood around instead with their thumbs up their arses.

Can you imagine professional firefighters arriving on the scene of a major conflagration and doing nothing but drink tea while people scream for help behind a wall of smoke and flames?

The case has prompted fresh controversy over how health and safety restrictions are preventing the emergency services from fulfilling their most basic duties. The issue flared up two years ago after another inquest heard how two police community.

Oh sweet Christmas, you mean this has happened before? No public oficials have been beaten to death yet? What are these safety restrictions?

Paramedic Sonya Lawrence arrived within 14 minutes but began to search on the nearside of the car, although it was damaged on the offside.

Another 19 minutes later a second ambulance crew arrived and found Mr Malton, who had been thrown unconscious into the dyke by the collision.

He was lying face down in the water and appeared to be dead. Paramedic Fergus White climbed over a barrier before deciding it was too dangerous to go down the bank.

‘If we had access to him we would have carried out resuscitation but we had no access,’ he said. ‘The bank was very steep and unstable.’

Mr White admitted he could not be ‘100 per cent sure’ that Mr Malton was dead. After a further 28 minutes a team of firemen arrived and set up ladders and ropes on the bankside but were ordered to stop by senior officer Edward Holliday.

I think of my career and the number of times I put myself at risk. I think of my fellow officers who did even more. I think of all the cops and firefighters who have died in the line of duty. Then I read what this idiot has to say:

Mr Holliday said: ‘I made the assessment that it would be inadvisable to enter the dyke until a properly trained and prepared crew arrived.’

He called in a water rescue team from Lincoln, more than 50 miles away. Mr Malton’s body was finally recovered using a boat at 2.18 am, more than three hours after the crash.

Now look at the following photograph. It is representative of the drainage ditches that line the roads in this area of England.

This is the sight that terrified English public safety officers; an 18 inch deep water hazard in Satan's Ditch paralyzed them with fear. You'd think the cops were facing a Wehrmacht Panzer Division on the other side of the Rhine.

Thank God they all refused to endanger their afternoon tea and stayed on the road surface where it was safe for Earl Grey. In complete safety they waited for someone to bring them a Higgins Boat or some damn rowboat located fifty miles away.

So they could rescue a man who was lying in 18 inches of water.

Today, are these the same type of people who stormed ashore at Gold Beach on D Day?

I. Think. Not.

I am somewhat embarrassed to think that I was in the same profession as this crew of incompetents and cowards.

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